Have you heard? There’s a new way to make a New Years Resolution that is spreading in popularity. A tribe of people committed to living a word for  a year of their life over at OneWord365. It is bold, it is challenging, and it frees a soul to focus. 2016 is a new year and I am onto a new word.

For the last two years I have had the same word. The work that it took to feel complete, or at least worthy to move on, has produced many tears, both of joy and of hardship. My word for 2014 and 2015 was #Trust. As in trust the process, trust others, and trust God. One weakness of mine is to put too much trust in myself. I wasn’t getting the results that needed to happen in my life. To reach my goals I had to step out of my comfort zone and trust.

For this year, I was searching for a new word, finally feeling brave enough to move on to new challenges. I was with one of my sisters when she brought up the subject of picking one word. She said, “You know what I think your word needs to be? Discipline.”

Hmm. I thought I was disciplined. I had to think on that one for a while. What areas of my life was she seeing that are not disciplined? Is is true? Could I use more routine, and order, and conviction in my life? I decided to trust her and identified some areas to work on, even ones she may not have been thinking about. So my word for me this year is #Discipline.

 

But another word kept revealing itself. I see it pop up everywhere from books to billboards, I hear it in peoples voices, and I recognize the need for it in the eyes of hurting people. It’s compassion.

Compassion is not easy for me to recognize. I tend to be a “quit your complaining and get on with it” type of person. But I’ve been doing a little experiment for myself, when someone is talking about their troubles, I just stay quiet and and respond compassionately. Intentionally. I focus on them and try not to form a verbal response, other than empathy, to their feelings. It’s been difficult. I can think of a thousand ways to solve someone else’s problems. But that’s rarely what they need. Most often, they just want compassion and a listening ear to hear what they are going through

In listening to others, I’ve heard ways to respond with compassion, by being able to surprise them in meeting a need. And I’ve found that having a need met brings JOY, both to the giver, and the receiver. I believe Joy is something we could all use more of, so my word for others this year is #Compassion.

What bold change do you need to make in your life? What challenge can you meet head on to reach your goals? What do you need to be free to focus on? Find your OneWord365 for this year!